The fact that she had asked him for an escort made it clear this woman knew nothing of the rumors about Emilio.

Emilio set the letter down on the table with a tired expression and looked out the window, thinking back to the last time he had seen Liane.

The way she had stood trembling with his jacket draped over her shoulders……

‘Ah… if I don’t escort her, there is a chance that wretched stepbrother of hers might be the one to bring her.’

What a nuisance.

Emilio frowned slightly and shifted his gaze back to the letter he had set down.

What made this already tiresome situation even more of a bother was the interest shown by his father, Marquis Hartfield, and his older brother.

When he mentioned that he would be escorting the daughter of the Aspel count’s family, his brother Lucian had found it very interesting.

Emilio explained that they had come to know each other by chance during the course of some business, but Lucian kept pressing him with questions about Liane.

‘Right, Liane Aspel is completely unknown in social circles.’

Thinking that today would be a nuisance in more ways than one, Emilio opened the carriage door and stepped slowly out as it came to a stop in front of the count’s estate.

He had not been waiting long in the drawing room he was shown to when a knock sounded.

“Hello, Lord Emilio. Thank you for agreeing to my request.”

Liane stepped into the room, the skirt of her pale blue dress swaying softly around her.

Her carefully arranged and adorned hair suited her quite well, and Emilio found himself standing still for a moment, taking in Liane’s beauty without meaning to.

“…Yes. Shall we go, my lady.”

Emilio glanced at Liane once more as she approached with a shy expression.

Throughout the carriage ride, Liane gazed out the window, and whenever she happened to meet Emilio’s eyes as he looked her way, she smiled at him.

‘How has she been getting on with that reckless stepbrother of hers since returning to the count’s estate?’

Even as he told himself it was none of his concern, Emilio found that every time he saw Liane smile, he kept worrying about her situation with Arman.

It was hard to say whether what he felt looking at this young woman, who knew so little of the world that she had not even caught wind of the dark rumors about him and had asked him for an escort, was pity or something else.

But there was something about Liane Aspel, unlike other noble young ladies, that he could not look away from.

‘Is it sympathy…….’

Emilio felt his thoughts growing tangled and let out a short sigh, turning his gaze to the window.

A great many nobles had already arrived at the Granville duke’s estate, filling the banquet hall.

When Emilio and Liane entered the banquet hall, the gazes of the nobles inside converged on them and murmuring broke out.

It was the first time anyone had witnessed Emilio escorting someone to a banquet, and no one recognized the beautiful blonde noble young lady at his side, so everyone was curious about her identity.

As the crowd’s attention gathered on her, Liane walked alongside Emilio with a visibly tense expression.

“There are so many people. Lord Emilio really is quite well known, it seems. I have no experience with this sort of thing, so I am very nervous.”

Tristan stood leaning against the railing beside the second-floor staircase, watching Liane smile at Emilio.

‘She came. Just as she told me she would, with Emilio Hartfield at her side.’

Tristan put his hands in his pockets and began descending the staircase at a slow, unhurried pace.

When he reached the bottom of the stairs, two figures came into view some distance away, looking as though they existed in a world apart from the rest of the nobles in the banquet hall.

The nobles in the hall could not bring themselves to approach Emilio and Liane, yet they could not take their eyes off them either.

“Tristan! Emilio Hartfield has shown up with a stunning beauty. Do you happen to know who that noble young lady is?”

Cedric came up beside Tristan and rattled off his words in rapid succession.

Without reacting to Cedric’s words at all, Tristan moved at a steady pace toward the two of them.

The nobles around Tristan as he walked each stepped back one by one, and a path opened up toward Emilio and Liane.

Tristan met Liane’s eyes and curved the corner of his mouth into a smile.

“Good evening, Lady Liane Aspel. Thank you for accepting my invitation.”

Emilio heard Tristan’s voice and turned around to look at him.

Tristan’s dark black hair reflected in Emilio’s expressionless, cold amber eyes.

The nobles around them heard Tristan’s greeting and their eyes went wide, and murmuring started up again at once.

Cedric, standing behind Tristan, heard the name Liane Aspel and covered his mouth with one hand, his expression stunned.

“Good evening, Your Grace. Thank you for inviting me to such a wonderful banquet.”

Tristan gave Liane a slight nod, then turned to Emilio with a greeting.

“Good evening, Lord Emilio Hartfield.”

“Yes, good evening. Duke Tristan de Granville.”

For a moment the three of them said nothing, and Emilio and Tristan stood facing each other. Cedric, who had been looking back and forth between the two of them, stepped in with a smile and greeted them.

“It has been a while, Lord Emilio. I am Cedric Blackburn. I never would have imagined seeing you at a banquet with the daughter of the Aspel count’s family.”

Only then did Emilio take his eyes off Tristan and shift his gaze to Cedric with a greeting.

The moment Cedric finished greeting Emilio, he turned to Liane and offered her a polite bow.

“Lady Liane Aspel. It is a pleasure to meet you. I am Cedric Blackburn.”

Tristan clearly saw Liane’s eyes widen slightly as she looked at Cedric.

‘This… this is the person whose bedroom I tried to sneak into. This is Lord Cedric.’

Liane greeted Cedric with a flustered expression, and Tristan, watching the scene, offered Liane and Emilio a perfunctory farewell and turned to take his leave.

Cedric fell into step beside Tristan and spoke in a low voice.

“What is going on? Do you know Liane Aspel?”

“Well, it just sort of happened.”

Tristan picked up a champagne glass and started walking again, and Cedric glanced back at Liane and spoke.

“Why didn’t you tell me she was such a beauty? To think Emilio of all people is escorting a young lady. I was surprised on more than one count. What are those two to each other?”

“Nothing.”

Cedric looked at Tristan’s profile as he stood by the window and answered with some finality.

“You seem to know quite a bit about Liane Aspel. Tell me more.”

“I had reason to look into the Aspel family not long ago. I came to know a few things in the process.”

“Ah. I see. So it was business related.”

Cedric nodded as though it all made sense now and brought his champagne glass to his lips.

Tristan walked at a leisurely pace to the pergola on one side of the garden and sat down on a bench.

He looked down, swept his hair back, and let out a long breath, and the next breath he drew in carried the fresh scent of flowers and grass deep into his lungs.

It seemed the old gardener of the Granville estate had not lost his touch. Tristan leaned his head against the pillar and gazed at the beautiful nighttime view of the garden spread out before him.

The banquet was still going on well into the late hours.

Between the endless greetings and talk of business, and on top of that Cedric and Damien pressing drinks on him, Tristan had made his way to his favorite garden to escape the fatigue of the banquet for a little while.

As the host of the estate holding the banquet, he could not be away for long, but a brief rest would be fine.

He had only closed his eyes for a few minutes when a rustling sound came from the bushes behind him.

‘Honestly. They cannot leave me alone for even a moment.’

The thought that his rest had been disturbed made Tristan furrow his brow without meaning to.

The rustling soon gave way to a soft swishing sound and footsteps, and those sounds moved a little further away in the opposite direction from the pergola.

Tristan opened his eyes and turned his head toward the sound.

And then he laughed out loud before he could stop himself.

“Ha…….”

At the sound of Tristan’s laugh, which came out almost like a gasp, Liane, who had been bent over examining the ground closely, turned around.

“Your Grace?”

When her eyes met Tristan’s, Liane straightened up with an embarrassed smile.

“My lady, what are you doing over there?”

Liane hesitated, then took one step toward Tristan, who was still leaning his head against the pillar in a relaxed posture, watching her.

“Well, I was taking a walk along this path a few hours ago and I think I may have dropped one of my hair ornaments.”

Tristan tilted his head back slightly and laughed with quiet amusement.

‘…? Why is the duke laughing?’

Liane was looking at him with a puzzled expression when Tristan slowly opened his eyes and looked at her.

“My lady, why is it that every time you take a walk, you lose something.”

“Oh, that… it does not happen every time!”

Liane realized Tristan was referring to the incident at the lake and shot back quickly, her face going red.

“If you describe the hair ornament, I will ask the servants to look for it tomorrow.”

“Thank you.”

The conversation lapsed, and Liane, unable to bear Tristan’s steady gaze on her, tried to excuse herself and leave, but Tristan called out to stop her.

“Liane Aspel. Why not rest here for a moment before you go.”

“Oh… pardon? Me? Here?”

Liane’s voice rose in pitch as she grew flustered, and Tristan let out a small laugh and extended an open hand toward the bench across from where he sat.

“Then, if you will excuse me.”